#lin stans: and i took that personally

[wilcze-kudly]

I mean, Suyin also decided to not come forward about the nature of the rift to her own children. Even when they had grown up and it was relevant to the situation. She also didn't take into consideration Lin's worries about the Red Lotus, not to the magnitude that Lin was urging on.

Moreover, Lin didn't want to be in Zaofu. She explicitly tried to stay away. Was it mature? Definitely not. But it was her choice, and it was one that would have prevented any more fighting or family drama from happening in the middle of a mission to keep the frigging avatar safe.

You say that the show only portrayed Lin's POV (which is true), however the development of the episode only show it to us, not any of the characters present.

Let's say we don't see those flashbacks, then what would have we seen? Suyin's version that (what a surprise) leaves out her whole part in the conflict beyond the "we were both neglected by our mom" part.

No, she didn't try to make good to her during the episode. Not when the very root of the issue circles to the secrecy Toph forced to keep Suyin's record clean. No, she didn't placate Lin's suspicions when at the first chance she goes over Lin to aid a bunch of teenagers follow the sadistic criminal group Lin was trying to protect them from.

And finally, no, you don't get to play woe-is-me when you force someone to a situation they don't want to be in. It's really ugly, on either side of it, but I seriously feel you're leaving out the part where it was Suyin's territory, family and influence the scenario of it. She had a support network, Lin was paranoic- could anyone have expected any different?

Ok. Several misconceptions to clear up. (Because there always are whenever I post anything vaguely critical of Lin).

When I said that Su tried to make good with Lin multiple times, I was speaking predominantly about how it was said (very hard to spot when you're mainly focused on seeing Su as the devil, I know😊) that Suyin has tried to contact Lin on peaceful terms multiple times.

One thing I rarely see brought up by people when discussing Lin's rift is that Lin... might just not want to discuss her scarring with just anyone? Like for some reason people act like the decent thing of Suyin to do is to.... not respect Lin's autonomy and privacy? And if Lin blew Su off as it was impied that she did, I doubt Lin's level of comfort around talking about the scar was discussed.

The red lotus issue, and here's a controversial opinion, wouldn't seem like a big issue to most people at the time.

You must remember that while yes, the Red Lotus were incredibly hyped up by Zuko and Tonraq, but to the public they were just 4 randos who were stupid enough to try and kidnap the most well guarded 4 year old in the world. People didn't even know the organisations name, and none of the 4 ever explained why they were after Korra.

Especially that Suyin was introduced to the concept like this:

Korra: She's just a little worried because there's a bunch of crazy criminals after me.

Not exactly screaming " hey shit is hitting the fan". Which isn't helped by the fact that Lin would rather blow her brains out than have a conversation with Su where she isn't allowed to substitute the important things with backhanded insults.

Suyin did assure Lin plenty of times that Zaofu is an incredibly safe city, which it was. The only reason the Red Lotus got in is because they had a man on the inside and they still left empty hamded and with their tails between their legs. Suyin could never account for Aiwei's betrayal.

Honestly, dear, your inclusion of criticism on my posts about the episodes' storylines is weird. I was purely speaking on how the story was presented to us, the viewers.

Lin is a veey shut off character who would rather commit mass homocide than have a moment of vulnerability. Huh, I wounder why Su didn't go around spilling someone else's tragic backstory to randos. "Hey, Korra, you've proven to be just GREAT as handling sensitive issues like this, how about I give you more ammo to pull out on Lin? I'm sure that will go over amazing."

I will say that Suyin letting the Krew follow Aiwei is a dick move and a stupid thing to do. I don't think Sugin was thinking clearly, due to the immense betrayal she was feeling due to Aiwei's actions.

I will say, I think that Suyin perfering to lie to Lin rather than disagree with her outrigt is very indicative if their relationship. But since most people who talk about this pair seem to perfer the "ooga booga Su bad, Lin good" school of thought, I guess we'll never have a mature conversation about this fascinating pattern of behaviour.

I will also concede that Suyin had the "advantage" of having her support system. Being on her turf would probably be comforting, but let's not forget that Lin actively insulted/drove to tears Suyin's kids, complete innocents in this situation.

Lin: Five kids. What a nightmare. Suyin: No, no. My children are a blessing. Lin: Yeah, mom used to say that too, but she never meant it.

Can I just say how much I hate this exchange? Like giving Lin the absolute benefit of the doubt she's being a jerk and then traumadumping at the worst possible moment. Giving a little less benefit of the doubt she's implying to her niblings' faces that their mother is lting about loving them.

Lin's obsession with painting Su as a villai is a symptom of her mommy issues, but you guys just like. Took it at face value you chumps.

Like yeah Su has the advantage of having her family close but that just kinda opens up the doors for Lin to make even more teenagers feel like absolute garbage. And after all that's her super special talent.

But you know what? I would have expected different from a 50+ woman who is in charge of people's lives. Like, call me insane and a dick and insensitive, but girlie should've gotten her shit together. But Lin doesn't value herself enough to do so and that is her skill issue. She self handicaps, she stagnates, she ignores her own well-being and it bites her in the ass.

It is, once again, a fascinating set of behaviours to discuss have but Lin is this fandoms sopping wet kitten, so we don't get to talk about Lin Beifong's arrested development.

Lin isn't an angsty teen or forlorn young adult. She's a grown ass woman with a career. She can get it together. I believe in her.

[restinslices]

Ive seen your Lin Kuei Brothers hc about movie reactions and they re hilarious. I watched Mean Girls the other day and thought about their reaction watching it. I bet Bi-han would stan Regina lol. What do you think?

This is short because tbh I don’t really see them liking it😭. I added a little Drabble cause this took so long.

Although the idea of him being a Regina George stan is conical, I don't really see him enjoying movies like Mean Girls 

I'm not sure what movies he'd like or if he's more of a book guy, but Mean Girls is campy fun about highschool drama. I just don't see him being interested 

I'm not sure any of them would really be interested in it honestly. Mean Girls isn't just a girls movie but these are men who are in their 30s-40s and just don't give me Mean Girl stan. Yk?

I just don't see him liking it at all. He's checked out the entire time and when he's told it's a classic, he doesn't understand why 

It's not the worst movie he's ever seen but it's not his favorite. He'll never go out of his way to see it again 

A party pooper fr 

I don't think he'll be like “this shit is ASS!” because you like the movie but I can see him being like “well it was certainly a movie”

I don't know😭. I wanna say he'd like it, but it doesn't seem like his vibe. I'm sorry 😔

“Did you like it?” You asked once the movie was over. The answer? No. Honestly, halfway through the movie he completely checked out and if you hadn't announced that it ended, he wouldn't have noticed. 

“It was a movie” he answered simply. He went to get up from the couch but you grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. A random spout of strength that contrasted how sad you looked. 

“You didn't like it?” 

“I'm in my 40s”

“So?”

“So, it isn't for me”. Your frown deepened and he couldn't understand why. It was just a movie. He could understand why you liked it. It had childhood memories attached to it. He didn't have any memories attached to it, so to him, it was just a movie. 

“You suck ass” you finally said and crossed your arms. “I'm watching it again”. 

“Have fun with that”. 

I don't think he hates the movie but once again, I just don't see any of them truly appreciating it 

Teenage drama to him just isn't exciting. He's older so when problems arise he starts giving logical answers 

“How does Cady not see that she's also becoming a mean girl?”

Because that's the point of the movie Kuai 

He'll watch it maybe a few times with you if it keeps you happy

In canon he has a wife so I'm sure he knows that sometimes you gotta endure for them

I think his favorite character, if he had to choose, would be maybe Karen because she's just tryna live life based on my memory 

He's glad he understands the references you make now 

So there's positives  

Not his cup of tea but he likes that you like it 

“This is a classic, you say?” Kuai Liang asked. He meant for his tone to come out friendly and curious, but in reality it came out unsure and a little judgmental. Unfortunately for him, you noticed. 

“Shut up! You didn't like it?!” he couldn't understand why you were so surprised. He liked some movies but the movies he liked were nothing like Mean Girls. 

“I didn't say that”

“I cannot believe you. We're gonna watch it again until you like it”. Kuai Liang was tempted to get up and go do literally anything else, but when you snuggled close to his arm, he figured there was no harm in trying again. As long as he was close to his favorite person. 

I can see him being the brother that understands the message the most 

For some reason people debate on who's actually a mean girl. Whether it's Regina, Cady, Janis, ect. 

Tomas can see that multiple characters are mean asf

Now once again, I don't see this being his cup of tea, but hate is too strong of a word 

Dislike is too strong of a word 

The movie is just eh to him. It's just a movie. He won't suffer if he watches it but he'll never choose to watch it on his own

I can see him lying about how much he enjoyed it so he ends up watching it a lot more than he wants to because you keep putting it on 

Even if this isn't his favorite movie, he definitely thinks the first is better than the sequel 

That shit was ass 

Mean Girls is entertaining. The sequel… no❤

He watches it with you because it lets you spend time together. 

Honestly you could put on a shitty booty ass movie like Teen Wolf (2023) and he'd watch it if it kept the two of you together 

“Sooooo… thoughts?” You leaned back in your seat and look over at him with hope and happiness in your eyes. He internally winced. How could he destroy that shimmer in your eyes?

“I loved it!” he lies. His heart swells in his chest when you clap your hands together and give him a toothy grin. By the Elder Gods… you were far too cute for him. Now he certainly couldn't tell you he didn't particularly care for the movie! You'd look so sad. 

“I'm so glad! We should get matching pink shirts! We can wear them on Wednesdays!”. Tomas kept his forced smile on his face. Internally, he wasn't sure what can of worms he opened. All he knew was that it was too late to close it back up. 

“Sounds great” he mumbled. “Maybe we can watch the sequel I've heard about”. Why did he keep talking?

You scoffed. “Sure. I guess we can suffer together”. 

Suffer? Oh boy… 

[elrielbaby]

ACOTAR Q+A:


🎀 a ship others like but you don't?

🌸 a ship others dislike but you don't?

👛 your favorite canon couple?

💕 a ship you'd defend with your life?

🖤 a character others like but you don't?

📞 a character others dislike but you don't?

🕷️a character you feel is underrated?

♟️a character you feel is overrated?

Hi anon, thank you so much for your questions how fun!

🎀 el*cien/g*ynriel 😆 there truly are no other ships that I don’t like

🌸 I don’t think this is a super wide problem but I’ve been seeing a lot of Nessian hate recently & I still love them

👛 feysand, but honestly there isn’t any canon ship that I don’t like.

💕 elriel. Every damn day!

🖤 L*cien - and not even for any ship reasons. I could have got behind any defence of his actions, up until he tried to force Feyre back to Ta*lin. That did it for me, I was done.

🕷️ Emerie. Again, this isn’t a dig but I do wish we saw more love for her in the fandom. On my (many) re reads of ACOSF, I always really really, really love her and Nestas friendship. (That’s not to say I don’t love Nesta & G’s friendship either, but we’re talking about under hyped characters lol). And I just love her straight to the point, no bullshit personality.

♟️ lol. L*cien. Obviously I don’t like him, but I don’t begrudge others who do - I just don’t understand the way a lot of his stans will fight to the death for him, and curse you, your children & your children’s children if you dare even think about criticising him. I don’t get the need to defend him that violently.

Ps - sorry this took me so long to respond to 💕

[the-firebird69]

Watch "How I Bought an ELECTRIC SPORTBIKE from CHINA on Alibaba.com" on YouTube

You see the problem they're sending them to San Francisco and it's the clones who are taking them and they're making 90% of the devices all over the place and just keep making clothes and it's ridiculous but this is solving the case and this person's important and it is Terry cheesman he does a thorough job he presents it too all the problems and why 2° actually my grandson is filling into place and told him to be careful but you're up there for some weird reason this no reason you would have made it back at all except they wanted to look like you could is one reason okay they want higher-ups to go up there and try and get these bikes that look cool and they're fast they go about 120 km an hour no they like 150 miles per hour and they handle well but they are a bear to try and get because of these clones it's impossible I can't get them to la if I paid everybody there they don't want to handle it because the clothes will come down and beat them up so my grandson is bringing in bikes surreptitiously and I'll tell you what these clones don't like it at all they want the old cars back they want the way they were and people are having trouble driving these cars around that they're handing them and Max are finally coming back and they're hitting clones they took a long time and they're getting rid of these jerks who Don't do anything and I hate to say it but a lot of people discovered it doesn't work and it just stopped and that's what he did no he went to one of our my grandson's auctions and he bought a ton of them and he got some free a lot of them they open a dealership and he's selling them to his isn't care what happens it's a fight and you have to win the fight and it's what he said it's Terry cheesman and he's a fighter but then again years ago John remillard lost and he lost a lot recently every day almost for a month he got shot so he doesn't seem to be recovering and his methods are horrible and he doesn't want to get into it but my grandson once again took his life cycles and gave him the mini choppers they said there was a note on there this is more your speed. So he's trying to get mad today and stop getting mad and stop getting angry and he was calm and he said this I see what he's saying he's my Daddio and he's telling me something. So my grandson is saying I could have a huge Rock core drill the massive black diamond doing and I still wouldn't get through there I got through there with this lawn mower chopper and a real chopper from a guy who worked in his shop who was actually the man tell me if the man himself like WB Mason that's what he looks like anyways Tommy f does so really this chopper stuff solved it and he wants to have that scooter chopper John remillard special and we have one it's like it cuz we made one like it so I'm going to try and get him back cuz I got him the electric bike and we have a team that did it and John remillard it's part of it and they want some on it for all these some reasons and so does Stan and yeah the hospital still intact but really they are taking stuff out of there when they fight it's going to come down the allegiant thing is going to come down Stan is going to come down and John Green boulevard it's predictable but really he's fought these people and it's suffering really mostly and you can't do much about it and really San Francisco is hell that place is 90% clone and after you go there for a while it's 100%, then 90% it's sick and gay and faggy and gross and his people are upset and they're probably just going through them cuz they have to so we're behind because they can collect Intel and we can't and the max aren't doing it well they see this they might and they talk to him and they might get into the chopper thing more it's all Harley-Davidson parts

Wie Chan lin

[project-paranoia]

Live Watch: Guardian  Episode One, Part One

It's Guardian!  The show that got me interested in this genre!  I love spooky things and I love mysteries and fantasy!  I simply adore it so much!  When I can't sleep I just put on a playlist of Guardian in the background.  I was aware of censorship before - every country has some version of it, but to some degree this was my first deep dive into how it might effect a piece of media.  Guardian is exceptionally acted and incredibly written, as well as suffering from obvious dubs where the dubbing voice actor sounds nothing like the previous actor and odd cuts that are disrupted.  In some ways it's the little drama that could fighting its way past their studio going bankrupt while they were filming, reshoots, and being taken down and altered several times.

In some ways Guardian's struggle fits the spirit and aesthetic of the show. Worn in like an old pair of jeans but still making an effort.  Putting emphasis where things count and hoping the kindness of the universe will make allowances for the rest.  Attention to detail where the story really matters.  It has the charm of a community production put on out of love with actors and crew who would not be anywhere else in the world for any amount of money.  That feeling of love comes through, and whether or not I'm barely literate I have so many words to share.

Part of why I love it as well is it has that feeling of 80s and 90s fantasy, like Moomin, Xena or Condor Heroes. Everything feels lived in, nothing's been spit shined except for Shen Wei's suits. It's an old city street of a show, it has history and character built in. 

*After all that I don't know that I have a tonne to say about the intro.  It's very good but it's also full of spoilers.  I think having the intro song be in English does make a difference in making it appealing to English speaking audiences as well as standing out as different and interesting, which the show is. Speaking of Spoilers!  Spoilers below!

* The obligatory beginning narration is beautifully animated, I have another post that will be done some time before the heat-death of the universe talking about the fascinating world building options.  Unlike some Make It SciFi plots, this one has legs and implications.

* Remakes rarely are able to meet the original on equal ground - and I struggle to believe the actors would Fit as well - but part of me really wants to have a chance to have the Dixingren worldbuilding really leaned into.  The writing is good enough we get implication but no real follow through.  I want fifty episodes of how Dixing functions, give me more pseudo-science behind the mutations, what are the biological differences.  I'm hungry for more!

* I love the cameos of later characters, and the way there was some effort to be discrete with spoilers.

* It's Ya Boy!  I love Shen Wei.  With that music cue and that sinister turn around they really set him up as dubious.  I wish they went with something a little different with the intro so his character wasn't spoiled.  The writing, directing, and acting was so good and spoiling who Shen Wei is kind of took the teeth out of that.

* Also cheers to the costume designer who outfitted Zhu Yilong so well and made him look jacked with the fit of those clothes.

* Also you can tell this is a real university because the staff has to sit in tiny student chairs.  I'm not joking, please be warned if you're going into academia.  Unless you have tenure life is An Adventure - and even then.

* Also shout out to Shen Wei's Prized Cabbage and the Queen of our hearts, Li Qian.  Why is this actress not in more things?  She has such an expressive and lovely face and she really goes all the way in with her acting.  I respect an artist that acts from their chest. Also that windbreaker, white skirt combo is chic and fun all at once, it draws the eye and makes her melt into the background all at once - perfect for the character.  I love her so much.

* Here's another one of Shen Wei's coats, it's a lovely color for him but it also is so thin that it looks like it crinkled up just from being worn.

* I'm being distracted by details and missing plot stuff.

* Story of my life.

* I love Li Qian hovering along behind Shen Wei like a duckling following their mother.  A) Mood and B) it quietly informs their dynamic.  Shen Wei has like one person he can trust but no one he can really confide in and it's the same for Li Qian. A ship will find a port in a storm and Shen Wei has Big Da-ge Energy. My fanfic heart hopes they found comfort in the pseudo familial relationship with each other while it lasted.

* Even in episode one we receive foreshadowing, we love and respect some excellent writing.  For those of you who missed it - Professor Ouyang is talking about Lin Jing who I love partially because he's so outrageous large but has the total opposite of intimidating energy.  

* What did they feed you Lin Jing? He is so tall and wide, but they do a lot with camera work to try to make him not quite as big.  Side note, I would really love to see the actor who plays Lin Jing (Liu Minting) both in more dramas but more specifically in a role where he was like a minister or scholar - someone intellectual.  I think the combination of being such a big gentleman and also someone who like plots or plans would be really dynamic if it was written well.  

* Also I like the exchange where without a word Professor Ouyang indicates he has one last thing to say, it's private and that he would like Shen Wei to ask Li Qian to leave. That's What You Can Do With Good Actors!

* Li Qian is just so pretty and the actress emotes so well!

* Shen Wei totally understanding what's going on with this shady research immediately and wanting to stay as far away as possible.  We see one of the first examples of him being aggressively polite to remove himself from a situation.

* "i'M jUST aN oRDINARY sCHOLAR." No one buys it Shen Wei.

* Angy Thinking Face

* One thing the show is really good at is using establishing shots really well so you always know where everything is and everything is going

* Guo Changcheng, all around good boy and angel.  We stan a nervous legend

* Zhou Yunlan Arriving.  Why is everyone on this show an Absolute Legend

* Guo Changcheng protecting himself with his certificate is too cute.  This young man is trying his best and I support him.

* Also that coat is Young, Pure, Stylish; I love it

* Zhao Yunlan, what's wrong with you? You are amazing!

* His irreverent style and disregard of usual policy makes him fit in really well with his band of misfits and special cases

* Guo Changcheng's OO face is too good, elastic face

* Da Qing my love!

* Jin Ling, I think he has an all seeing eye on his hoodie thing. Illuminati Confirmed.

* Also they filmed the shots so well, so you always know where everyone is in relation to everyone else

* Our Prized Cabbage!  I love her!

* Great handheld work: shaky and unhinged, but not migraine inducing

* Foreshadowing in the form of a shadow and reaching for the necklace

* Da Qing's cat behaviours. I really want behind the scenes of the actor discussing how cat was he going to cat

* We get our first real example of how Zhao Yunlan doesn't feel safe emoting negatively and so he uses a super sunny mask to hide his feelings, except with Da Qing who he lets his anger show with because he trusts him.

* I'm not even halfway through and I've written so much, peace and blessings to the readers of this.

* Zhao Yunlan's swagger, after his childhood having a little power must feel comforting and good

* I love how Da Qing is talking as a cat less than a meter from the medical examiner.  Does the examiner not care or does he know?  Is he deaf?

* Harassing Guo Changcheng is the new team sport

* Zhao Yunlan Realises Something Music

* Also, Lollipop Measurement

* It's nice to see Zhao Yunlan just being himself with Da Qing, he's able to really be honest and genuine with him

* Slow Look Moment

* This moment is so fascinating!  Shen Wei doesn't know what's going on yet.  He just sees an old friend who winces when he sees him and disappears.  We mostly see things from Zhao Yunlan's point of view, but from Shen Wei's perspective this is a first part of just some Odd and Confusing Happenings

* This cat though!  I love him!

* The delicate way they’re both feeling each other out.  This must be so confusing and startling for Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan is trying to figure out if this teacher is going to bust him or what.

* He forgot to let go, way to set off Zhao Yunlan’s suspicions

* “Mark Stewart” Is he though?  Who picked out that English name?

* Li Qian!  I love her and I love that striped blouse. Fashion.  Got to look good when you’re resisting a mental break. *Also she hears a meow and looks around at eye level, I love that for her.

* Zhao Yunlan!  You can’t take pictures of young ladies without their permission.  What is wrong with you!

* I love Da Qing’s very cat attitude of I Will Have Vengeance for These Wrongs

* Two for one! Shen Wei meets two faces from his past.

* Also, I get a little frustrated about people making a big deal about the 10,000 years versus 1,000 years age thing with Da Qing.  a) He has amnesia and b) the thousand years refers to the amount of time needed to cultivate to a certain stage in Chinese mythology - usually by absorbing energy from the sun, moon, or depending on the animal other sources.

* I feel so bad for Shen Wei, who knows what he thinks.  Were his friends brainwashed?  Did they forget?  Can they not say for some reason?  What is happening?

This review is getting a little long, so join in tomorrow for Part Two~~!

[the-resurrection-3d]

so what was ever good about acotar anyway?

For some reason, I’ve been very tempted to reread ACOTAR lately, and so I’m going to just make a quick list of what I remember specifically endearing the book to me back when I first read it in 2016 so we can compare notes later. This will, however, also include some retroactive criticisms now that we’re four years on from ACOWAR ruining everything forever. 

Twigger warnings for discussions of abuse, csa and neglect, as well as me using my complimentary R Slur Pass.

For some context: 

>Be 18yr me in 2016. 

>Be in your first semester at college. 

>Be so fed up with YA romance that you avoid books just for hinting at them in the summary. 

>Be also brainstorming a series with your roommate called The Cuckmaster Saga. 

This is probably going to sound embarrassing, but I’m being completely sincere when I say that part of why this book excited me was simply the novelty of finding a YA romance book that I liked. 

I’d fallen out hard with YA in general by this point in my life, partially because of a string of fairy tale “retellings” that clearly gave zero fucks about the source material beyond using the iconography in its marketing. Folklore had been my special interest for a while, and my excitement for the series and all its little extra niche references coincided with finally getting to study folklore in a true academic setting.

Which leads me to point one:

I love the idea of combining BatB and the Tam Lin ballad. I know some people have complained about this, but honestly, I enjoyed finding a retelling that mimicked the mix-and-match structuring of a lot of folktales. ACOTAR isn’t even the messiest or least coherent mash-up by a huge margin. Unfortunately, this aspect of the series severely lessened as it went along — remember when we all thought ACOWAR was going to be a Snow White retelling and then there was just one scene with poisoned apples? Lmao.

[If anyone wants an author who does YA mash-ups that are actually YA, I’d recommend Rosamund Hodge, whose books are always interesting in their sheer weirdness even when the story itself slightly falters. I mean, I wrote a whole 20-page thesis on her Red Riding Hood/Maiden Without Hands retelling and still didn’t cover everything I had thoughts on. (Tragically, however, I must inform you all that she is a Catholic Reylo. Rest in pepperoni.)]

It is fucking hilarious in retrospect that SJM clearly knows a bunch of different folktales and folkloric creatures but thinks it’s believable for shadowsinger powers to have no theorized origin “even [in] the rich lore of the warrior-people” (ACOFAS 65). Bro fuck outta here. 

But this leads into point two — Feyre and her family. It’s very obvious that SJM based Nesta and Elain’s dynamic with Feyre off the common folktale trope of having the youngest sibling be the only competent person in the room (and Katniss Everdeen). I thought it was honestly a lot of fun to see this trope done with some interiority; you can practically hear Feyre seethe about what useless hoes her sisters are between every line. I genuinely giggled through these parts on my initial readthrough. 

I’ve seen some people complain that Nesta and Elain’s behaviors aren’t realistic in this situation, but au contraire! Nesta and Elain’s actions in book one are (...almost) perfectly realistic. Without revealing too much, my grandmother grew up in poverty with a few older sisters, and yet my great-grandmother would make her do all the work and constantly force her to give up her possessions (like her car) to the older sisters whenever they wanted them. Even to this day, when they’re all in their 70s and 80s, one of these sisters still relies on my grandma to do basic shit like balancing her checkbooks. I’ve also observed similar dynamics play out plenty of times between an adult child and an overindulgent parent, with people literally ruining their lives and bodies all for the sake of sitting at home all day buying furry porn off the internet. 

Nesta and Elain are basically the psychology of this type of person split in two — Elain the soft, delicate, perpetually victimized front they put on for the world, and Nesta the ice-cold, bitter, and aggressive bitch they truly are. 

Honestly, the only thing I would change about this set-up is either keep Ma Archeron alive or give Papa Archeron more personality than a plank of damp wood. What’s truly missing here is a parental figure enforcing this fucked up dynamic — I don’t remember it being clear that Feyre’s always had this role, just that she took it on after her mom’s death. Making it clear that Feyre’s always been forced to be this way — alongside giving the mom more characterization — would have gone a long way towards making this dynamic feel more realized and less like the narrative using trauma and pity as a shortcut towards reader engagement. 

Then again, that would require SJM to have a female villain in this series who isn’t a rapist, and quotes I’ve seen floating around from ACOSF make it pretty clear SJM doesn’t know same-gender sexual abuse even exists. 

Anyway. 

Point Three (or rather 2B): Feyre realizing she doesn’t have to hang around her family just because she feels obligated to love them was a fucking banger. I loved it so much; having a story, especially a YA story, that showed you aren’t obligated to love a family that treats you like shit was so special to me. Especially since I was also leaving my family for the first time, and going home to visit them every other weekend felt like being hit point-blank with a Psyduck blast. 

Thankfully, my relationship with my family has gotten a lot better, but I’m still really disappointed that Nesta and Elain were forced back into the story, rather than them reaching out to Feyre and making amends because they wanted to do better.  The closest we got to this was the revelation that Nesta almost made it to the Border by herself after Feyre was taken, which was definitely badass, but also unfortunately the only Nesta scene I’ve liked in this entire fucking series. If SJM was going to force Feyre to regress into being Nesta and Elain’s tardwrangler again, then she should have followed up on Amren’s line in ACOWAR that Feyre treats Nesta and Elain the way Tamlin treated her. 

“I asked them to help once—and look what happened. I won’t risk them again.”

Amren snorted. “You sound exactly like Tamlin.”

[. . .] and I said, “She’s right.”  (169-170). 

But I’m sure everyone who’s read ACOSF knows how well that’s going. 

Point Four: the femindhjdfhfdh I can’t even write that with a straight face. I mean let’s be real, I too enjoy seeing female characters I like become queens and all that other stuff, but it was clear to me even on my initial reading of ACOMAF that it was all shallow and designed to help delineate good guys from bad guys without much in the way of nuance. It certainly took me out of the experience a little, but at least it ties into the books’ themes of recovering from abuse and shacking up with a Certified Women Respecter. 

My actual point four: Truthfully I only bought this series for the meme of having the first shitty love interest getting cucked in the second book. ACOWAR gave me some complicated feelings on Tamlin, and I honestly think he should have just stopped appearing in the series after that — BUT, having him be dragged back in once per book just to call him a cuck and cockslap him around a little bit is fucking hilarious. Pointless! But hilarious.

I also think that this kind of arc is a great critique of the standard “happily ever after,” acknowledging that in real life, you’re much more likely to just pass from one abusive household to another because you don’t know what healthy love, communication, and boundaries are. (Arguably many folktales are the fantasies of women who are well aware of this reality but want to imagine a world that’s otherwise). I definitely have a lot of problems with SJM’s claims of “sex positivity,” but acknowledging that Feylin used sex as a means of avoiding communication was another great touch.

I wish that this whole King of Hybern shit was completely cut just to focus on these themes more; it’s very clear SJM only included it because fantasy series = BIG EPIC WORLD-ENDING STAKES!! I've read maybe ten pages of Throne of Glass, so I can't speak for how she handles epic fantasy there, but I know for me and a lot of other stans, the Hybern plot had licherally nothing to do with what we liked and connected to in these books. 

But I must soften here, because I totally empathize with feeling like big stakes are “necessary” for a fantasy story and that no one would want to read your books without them. YA fantasy is the reason why TV Tropes coined the term “romantic plot tumor,” after all. (Source: I’m making shit up.) 

What else… what else… uhhhhh. I think that might be it, at least for substantial things I don’t have to qualify too much. I of course have plenty of little things I used to like but have now been tainted because ACOWAR ruined everything forever and ACOFAS danced on the graves (such as how I liked Lucien but everyone in the books shits on him now to the point it’s stopped being funny). But this post is too long anyway.

[veronicamarsconfessions]

I was hugely excited by the announcement that a fourth season of teen noir show Veronica Mars was going to be made, nearly fifteen years after the show’s initial air date (and cancellation after three seasons), and five years after the crowdfunded movie came out. As soon as the show dropped on Hulu (or Stan, if you’re in Australia like me) – a week earlier than initially slated, I rushed to watch it. And I was so distraught by the ending that it genuinely took two days for my mood to return to something even vaguely resembling ‘okay’.

For those of you who haven’t seen it *SPOILERS FROM HERE ON*,

season four has Veronica (Kristen Bell) chasing down a serial bomber who seems to be trying to destroy the Spring Break business in Neptune. It turns out that the first bomb was set by property developer ‘Big’ Dick Casablancas, trying to destroy the Spring Break business in order to buy the waterfront properties cheaply, and the subsequent bombs were set by a pizza delivery man, Penn Epner (Patton Oswalt), who fancies himself a detective and is out to find glory after he is initially ridiculed for his public accusation of an incorrect suspect. The season itself had several issues (one of them being some seriously murky motivations behind Epner’s behaviour, like, if he really was that much of a genius, why was he a pizza delivery man?, and that the people ultimately behind the crimes are more or less ‘hidden in plain sight’ all along, which is a disappointing departure from the way the initial seasons cleverly hid the villain until quite late in proceedings). However, the issue for which there is not enough therapy in the world to appease me is the season’s last-minute killing off of reformed bad-boy and Veronica’s long-time boyfriend, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), right after they finally got married.

Series creator and showrunner, Rob Thomas, justified this decision by saying ‘I know this seems crazy or harsh but Veronica is at her best when she’s an underdog and I don’t know that there’s much to root for if she’s now got a perfect relationship. I need to keep her fighting and I need to keep her a little bit uncomfortable in order to have a show. There’s nothing funny or interesting about perfection.’

Except that’s a deeply flawed understanding of how relationships function, and a deeply messed up thing to push on to people.

It’s fair to acknowledge that once the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ is resolved, TV shows often decline in quality, or at the very least, significantly depart from the original formula which made them into such beloved hits at their beginning. But there are two significant issues with this: First, the assumption that TV shows must remain the same in order to be good. There are some interesting observations that the job of the sitcom episode (in particular) is to return all characters to more or less their original starting points. While that is broadly true, TV shows, like life, need to evolve in order to stay interesting, and as across seasons, audiences grow alongside the characters they watch evolve and mature.

Nevertheless, it was fair for Thomas to note that the characterisation of Veronica is someone who is embittered and cynical about people’s fidelity and inherent goodness  – after all, when we first meet her at the age of sixteen, her best friend has been brutally murdered, she’s been raped, her alcoholic mother has upped and left, and her adored father and moral compass has been socially ostracised for a) doing his job and b) being not super wealthy. It’s a lot. Veronica’s very understandable trust issues are compounded by the moonlighting she does as a P.I where, to she regularly sees people cheating on one another and generally behaving in unpleasant ways. So it’s reasonable to point out that for Veronica, the notion of the ‘happily ever after’ is a deeply uncomfortable one. But to keep her in the same mindset as she was at aged 16 is to deny her the capacity to grow as a character.

It’s fair that there was a desire to avoid repeating the pattern previously established (withdrawn/bitter etc), but – and here is my ultimate point – that could have been avoided.

Some of the most complex and interesting storylines come from couples who get together and have to navigate relationships; compromising to fit together, find a way to make it work. Think about the evolution of Niles and Daphne’s relationship in Frasier (and leave aside some of the aspects to his earlier infatuation with her that seem distinctly distasteful in a post-#metoo world). While much of the humour between them in earlier seasons was because of his unrealised ardour for her, after they became a couple, the hardships they navigated through being a couple, and the deepening richness of their relationship that was both romantic and based in friendship, produced some truly hilarious moments. Similarly, one of my (and our fabulous Chief Nerd, Elise’s) favourite TV shows, Chuck, *SPOILER* has the two leads get together in season 3. The show was no lesser for that fact because as Chuck and Sarah’s relationship deepened, they explored facets of themselves that they hadn’t previously shown – it provided more material for the writers, not less.

One of my favourite articles on the ending of Veronica Mars, season four, pointed out that Logan has the most interesting character development because he works to better himself – he has come a long way from the miscreant teenager who organised ‘bum fights’, and he had the potential to become an even more interesting character. How this interacted with Veronica’s cynicism could have provided significant fodder for more story.

But, giving full credit to Rob Thomas for a moment here, the show is called Veronica Mars, not Logan Echolls. So the decision to axe Logan was made to push Veronica’s character development forward, especially given the shows position as a gender-flipped noir which so often has the embittered, cynical detective dealing with the ongoing pain of a tragically killed love.

But the problem is that I can’t actually see how this is going to do anything but ossify Veronica’s primary characteristics: bitter, a hardnosed and reckless desire to catch the bad guy at any cost. Moreover, in most of the noir detective stories, this love has died before we meet the hard-bitten detective.

Thomas said to The Hollywood Reporter, “Moving forward, we’re going to really build around [the idea that] the case is the thing and less of the soap opera of Veronica’s life.” Except Veronica Mars is all about character. Her interactions with her father, Keith (Enrico Colantoni) and the genuine bond of affection between them evokes some of the show’s most poignant interactions. Her internal struggle when the pursuit of justice comes up against questions of morality is inherent grounded in her character. One of its most interest aspects across the years is that Veronica is often wrong. She falsely accuses people (including Logan himself), she behaves badly, she takes her friends for granted, and she can be reckless to the point where she endangers herself and someone has to come in and rescue her (case in point: wandering into the base of an Irish gang that had a particular grudge against her father). So to strip away the elements to the story that allow for depiction and consideration of those complexities would be to lose much of the show’s point.

There’s also a part of me that feels the way in which Logan was killed feels personal. Logan and Veronica were never initially meant to get together, but in the first episodes, the chemistry between the characters, and Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring was so profound that it was written in. I might be putting on my tin foil hat to say this, but it feels as though Thomas resented the manner in which LoVe became such a pivotal part of the Veronica Mars ‘brand’. What really underpins that for me is that the way the series sent off other characters was considered, and gave them a certain ‘exit’. The way in which Logan was killed off feels almost like an afterthought, made more so by some of the questions that arise from the manner. How did he know that she would be in it when it actually blew up? Moreover, the convenience of him leaving a voicemail for his therapist about why he wanted to marry Veronica (why exactly would he call his therapist to tell him about his epiphany? Who has that kind of relationship with their therapist?), and this woman’s decision to keep it from Veronica for a year seems weirdly contrived. Because it was.

However, to be fair, one could claim that the season mistreated some of its other characters, too. Tina Majorino who plays Cindy ‘Mac’ Mackenzie specifically noted that she did not want to return because she did not want her character to be sidelined. Similarly, the complexity to Eli ‘Weevil’ Navaro’s character was stripped away, as was the depth of his relationship with Veronica. What’s worse is that this could have been a really interesting storyline; why he decided to walk away from the court case which would have seen him awarded with compensation for what happened to him in the movie. While we are told that his wife left him along with his child, prompting him to return to his old gang-running ways, the depth of his grief and the reputable life he lost were never really portrayed. Honestly, I would have preferred that rather than the convoluted storyline that involved Mexican cartel hitmen.

But beyond my argument as a writer as to why Logan’s death was a totally unnecessary element to bring in, it also feels like a real slap in the face to fans. I’ve previously talked about the relationship this show has with its fans. Realistically, season 4…hell, the movie, only existed because of the love and support fans showed the show.

Any narrative material exists to interact with fans. Obviously, there is a fine line that can cross into blatant pandering, and there is also a trend that offers a ‘gritty’ or ‘sad’ end (ie the tragic death of the lover), but it’s a balance.

The Veronica Mars movie was very much fan service – it was, after all, fan funded. Much of the movie’s contents and storyline were determined by what Thomas was seeing from fan comments on social media, noting “I did have an idea of things people wanted to see, characters I wanted to get an appearance in, whether it felt extraneous or not.” He added, “there’s no way in the world we would have had a fan-funded movie and I would have killed Logan,” he added.

In the same interview, he said, “I fear that leaning into the high school soap that the show started out as is a losing proposition, that it will start feeling nostalgic rather than vital. If Kristen [Bell] and I want to make more of these Veronica Mars mysteries, I think it’s going to survive best as a true mystery show with a badass PI at the center of it, and I think that works better if the PI doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

Yet for a show whose who schtick was challenging the noir detective genre, it seems the prospect that someone fundamentally gritty and damaged can also have a relationship that the struggle to be healthy was simply a bridge too far.

And at the crux of it, what really frustrates me – as a fan, and as a writer – is that for Thomas, it simply felt too hard to give Logan and Veronica an enduring relationship, and it if wasn’t too difficult, then he perceived it destroyed some fundamental part of the show by making it emotionally sappy. If that’s the dichotomy in which Thomas thinks, then Veronica Mars is no longer the show which attracted its die-hard following of fans and may as well be a different show with a similar premise.

[fallin-flcwer]

PHOENIX LIN TRUTH BOOTH

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. Please state your full name: I go by three names, but they’re all more or less the same, just translated differently. The name I was born with is Lin Feng Huang, which translates to Lam Fung Wong in Cantonese, then my English name is Phoenix Lin. 2. Does your name(s) have any kind of meaning? If so, what is it? Feng Huang means Phoenix in English, hence why it’s my English name  3. Do you have any nicknames? Nix, Duck Lin, Kung Pho Panda (thanks Addison), Shitlin (thanks Luca). No one really calls me it, but I also like being called Nixie. 4. Where were you born? And in which country? I was born in Violet Springs 5. What is your date of birth? 24th of October, 2000 6. Of course, the following question; what is your Zodiac sign? Scorpio 7. Do you believe in Zodiac signs? Yes. 8. Where do you live? Lilac Wells 9. What is your home situation like? (ex. do you live with your family? Your partner etc.?) I live with my mum and Duyi 10. Do you have any siblings? I have an older half-brother. We've never spoken to each other, and I don’t plan on doing so. 11. Do you have any kind of allergies? I have a small allergy to cinnamon 12. Do you own any pets? If so, what kind of pets are they? I’ve got a chihuahua called Chia and a Siamese cat called Cat. 13. Why did you apply to St Jude’s? Not gonna lie, the part of it was because my friends planned to go there, but there were also some teachers there that I admire, and still do. 14. Did you had to go through a lot audition rounds? Nope. 15. What is the current course you’re following? Netball and Swimming. I did do gymnastics and modelling but I dropped them earlier this year. 16. If you can switch courses, which one would you switch to and why? I would do modelling if I wasn’t so focused on sports. 17. What is your proudest project you’ve done? I think for sports, it’s pretty much... you know.. sport. But playing The Female for Felix’s show, The Boys, is something I never thought I'd be able to do, but I’ve found it so fun. 18. What is the proudest project that someone’s else has done? Cindy getting into a national soccer team. It cost me seeing her religiously but that’s okay. 19. Do you like FanCons? Yes. Being a sports person, you don’t get many stans the way musicians and actors here do, but it’s still fun. 20. What do you like about FanCons? Meeting the fans I do have. 21. What don’t you like about FanCons? It really does tire me out from time to time. Not all of them, but there have been some. 22. A fan memory that always stuck with you? Can be positive or negative. A little girl came to me and talked to me about how happy she was to see an Asian sportswoman. 23. Your favorite event so far? The halloween party in my first year LMAO. 24. What kind of event would you like to see in the future? Anything that has to do with travelling. 25. Would you recommend St Jude’s to friends, family. etc? If they’re pursuing a career in the Arts, yes

PERSONALITY QUESTIONS

26. What are your positive traits? Level-headed, realistic and supportive 27. What are you negative traits? I can be a bit bossy and stubborn 28. What would other people describe you as? Carefree 29. What are your pet peeves? Loud chewers 30. What makes you happy? This has to be the most un-Phoenix-like answer but watching pottery videos. My mum used to take me to her pottery lessons growing up, but I never did it myself. 31. What makes you upset? Seeing people I care about upset 32. What is something you love? Food, my mum and my friends 33. What is something you dislike? My  34. What are you strengths? Saving money (thanks mum), biology, and sport 35. What are you weaknesses? I definitely struggle with empathising with people I can’t relate to, but it’s something I want to learn to do 36. A misconception people often think of you? That I’m a very idgaf person. I like to come off that way bc it’s just easier for me, but I’m definitely a bit more sensitive than I like to let off. 37. Do you have any fears? I’m scared of frogs, but you would be too if your little cousin chased you around with one 38. What scares you the most? Losing my mum, honestly. I’d go insane at this point if it wasn’t for her. 39. What do you do to entertain yourself? Watch vine compilations on youtube. 40. What is your MBTI? ESTJ. 41. How do you deal with stress? Shut it out completely. 42. Are you a determined person? Are you a stubborn person? I’m definitely both. 43. Do you consider yourself selfish? Yes. 44. Would you like to be different? In some ways, yes. 45. Are you more introverted (focused on your inner world) or more extraverted (focused on other people and the outer world)? Honestly, I think I’m both but I lean more towards extroverted.

ROMANCE QUESTIONS

46. What is your sexual orientation? I’m bisexual. 47. Current relationship status? Single, but I may or may not be emotionally invested in Gabriel. 48. When was your first kiss? I was around 15. 49. Do you remember your first date? If so, with who was it? What did you do? It was with one of my human biology classmates. She took me out to the movies and went out for bubble tea afterwards. 50. Have you ever experienced heart-break? No. 51. Have you ever been in love? (If yes, skip to question 53) No. 52. If no, how so? I just don’t think I’ve ever felt how I’m supposed to when I’m ‘in love’ 53. How do you know when you’re in love? I wouldn’t know. Sorry. 54. What would be your ideal date? Just something indoors. We can have takeout, watch a movie, whatever. I’m not picky. 55. What is your perspective on marriage? I think marriage is a little bit overhyped. Obviously, marriage is good when it’s done right, but really it’s pretty much a relationship topped off with a ring and a fancy ceremony. Just because someone said their vows and “I do” doesn’t mean that they’re not going to cheat if they want to, in my eyes. 56. (only for non-virgins) Are you a sub, dom or switch? I don’t really believe in dom/sub roles. Like just get on with it. However, I will admit that I like being on top. 57. What do you think of relationships? As of right now, I don’t think I’m ready to be in a committed relationship, but then again I don’t believe in actively looking for a relationship. I think things will unfold over time and I’ve just gotta let it be.  58. What do you think of one-night stands? I don’t have an issue with them. 59. Are you still a virgin? No. 60. Most attractive trait in a different person? Their confidence, and as how well they treat people. 61. What matters most to you when it comes to a relationship? Honesty and trust. 62. Are you comfortable with PDA? Or would you be comfortable with PDA? Yes, but only in very small doses. 63. Are you more of a type to be asked out or the type to ask the other out? It depends on the person. 64. How do you express love to the other? I will cook for you, or at least try to.  65. Who is your celebrity crush? Jeon Wonwoo.

GETTING DEEP QUESTIONS

66. Do you regret anything? Yes 67. Is there something you would like to re-do? So, start all over again? My entire first year here 68. What is something you would never share with anyone? Pass, because that would mean that I shared it 69. When was the last time you cried? Why did you cry? Maybe like last week. I think I’m more sensitive than I like to let off 70. Most memorable event that happened in your time in St Judes? This could be anything: Halloween in my first year, when Cindy brought me an inflatable panda suit and rolled me around in it. 71. One thing you wish you could do all over? My first year 72. Someone you miss? My Grandmother 73. Something you wish you could forget? Anything involving my dad 74. Who has the biggest impact on you? My mum 75. What is your perspective on love? Is it beautiful? Does it scare you? There have been some things that have happened in my life that has changed my perspective on love dramatically.  76. What has hurt you in the past that you don’t want others to go through? Pass 77. What is something you have gained, something you have lost and something you let go of during the past year? I’ve gained some more initiative. I’ve lost some confidence but at the same time I’ve definitely let go of some self hatred I’ve been holding onto. I doesn’t seem like it makes sense but it does to me 78. Have you ever lost a friend? do you wish you would still be friends? My sports squad :( minus Luca obviously.  79. Do you have any triggers? What is the history behind these triggers and are they related to any disorders or mental illnesses? None that I’m willing to talk about  80. If you could meet your 16 year old self, what would tell them? As much as you want to be with your friends. Maybe St. Judes isn’t the best choice. And if you are as stubborn as I remember you to be, if you do go, please be more careful this time.

RANDOM QUESTION ROUND

81. Summer or Winter? Winter 82. Cats or dogs? Cats 83. Beach or mountains? Mountains 84. Phone calls or texting? Texting 85. Have you ever skipped class? Yes

[zukoshotleafjuice]

legend of korra season 1 thoughts!

so I finished the first season of the legend of korra and I have a lot of thoughts so here’s a review post! i’ve heard a ton of mixed opinions about it but i’m keeping an open mind and trying not to let other people’s opinions colour mine :)

pros:

korra herself! we stan a strong, kickass, muscular woc. i love that she’s powerful but also realistically flawed - she’s headstrong and tends not to think things through. in a lot of ways she’s the polar opposite of peaceful and good-natured aang. i love her with all my heart and she’s probably the best part of the show so far 

the steampunk/20s mafia vibe of Republic City is amazing - it’s so different from atla but it makes perfect sense that this is the direction the world took. it also makes for a lot of new things for Korra et al to explore so that their world feels different from the Aang’s

the interactions between technology and bending are great

LIN AND TENZIN. these two are incredible characters on their own and their dynamic is amazing - without dwelling on the details of their relationship, the small moments between them say everything. I love that Lin ends up sacrificing her bending to defend Pema and the airbender children - her love for Tenzin goes beyond the pettiness of relationships and jealousy and I could go on about these two forever but in the interest of time, I won’t. Anyway, I’d probably ship lin/tenzin (linzin?) if I didn’t like Tenzin’s family as much as I do. 

Jinora and Ikki are adorable and I would die for them.

Amon/Noatak is a really good villain, and I wish they’d given him more space to excel. he’s a classic example of ‘good motivation, bad methods’ - is it really so wrong to demand equality for non-benders? on that note did they really show a murder-suicide in a children’s show?! they did Not hold back at all huh

surprisingly, I really enjoyed pro-bending - it makes perfect sense that in a developing world where technology is becoming a norm, the skills that were once mainly used for fighting/day to day life become valued primarily in sporting arenas. 

in general, the show does a really good job of paying homage to atla and the legacy that the gaang left on the world without letting their presence overwhelm korra’s story. also, the giant aang statue was incredible. 

iroh II being voiced by dante basco and sounding exactly like zuko was completely unexpected but also incredible I love it

cons:

that love triangle was god-awful. I get that korra is bi, and that’s important, but the mako/asami/korra triangle and the mako/korra/bolin triangle weren’t very well-executed imo. korrasami wya

I feel like Team Avatar wasn’t very fleshed out. Developing each character’s personality and relationship with Korra was overshadowed by the weird romance stuff going on between the whole lot of them. I’m trying not to compare it to ATLA too much, but each member of the Gaang had their own distinct motivations, development and backstory - by the end of season 1 I was just as invested in katara, sokka and zuko as I was in aang. I don’t really feel the same way about mako, bolin and asami. Hopefully, they get that development and backstory later on in the show!

meelo’s potty humour was Not It. 

was it really necessary to kill Sokka? I want to see 84-year-old Sokka kicking ass with a boomerang and being the grumpy grandpa he was always destined to be

I actually think the season’s shorter episode count hurt it quite a bit this season - many elements that I found lacking could have been improved on a lot given a couple of filler/backstory episodes. Things like relationship development were forced to take a back seat since the plot had to reach a conclusion in 12 episodes. Overall, though, I did enjoy season 1 and am really looking forward to the next three!!!

[ofitzroy]

❝ ⤚⟶ EUROPE, 1458. thanks is given by the EARL OF RICHMOND, RICHARD FITZROY, from ENGLAND. they are at best ELOQUENT, and at their worst LAZY. whilst abroad, their ambition is to SEEK LEGITIMACY FOR THE SAKE OF HIS FAMILY. HE seems to remind everyone of TIMOTHEE CHALAMET & THE MELODIC TUNE OF A LUTE BEING PLAYING AS THE SUN SETS, THE WHISPERS MADE IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT BENEATH FRESHLY BEATEN COVERS & LAUGHTER BELLOWED AFTER WINNING A GAME OF CARDS. ❞

here is my second child, made of melancholy and the tightened strings of the lute. 

STATS.

full name  — richard (proto-germanic - “strong or brave leader”) fitzroy (anglo-saxon - “son of the king”) titles  — lord of york, earl of richmond birthplace  —   windsor castle, england (1433) age  — five and twenty (25) languages  — english (mother-tongue), latin (basic, mass-centric), french (fluent, refrains from speaking it), german (basic dialect), spanish (basic), italian (learning) dynasty  — house plantagenet (paternal house), fitzroy (given house), neville (maternal house)

mother  — isabel rose neville, queen of england

father  — edward plantagenet, king of england

spouse  — countess elizabeth beauchamp of richmond (1457-)

issue  — edmund howard-fitzroy (b. 1455)

siblings  — older : prince henry of wales (plantagenet) older : princess beatrice of england (plantagenet) older : prince of england (fitzroy, legitimised) younger : lady of york (fitzroy) younger : lady anne of york (fitzroy) younger : princess ceciliy of england (plantagenet)

other  — duke john neville of york (maternal uncle), earl william of lancaster (maternal uncle), 

zodiac/element — acquarius religious affiliation — roman catholic personality type   — i. swaddled in his mother’s arms the moment he entered into the world it is known to both him and the entire court that he is beloved by isabel neville and his older brother. much cannot be mirrored for his half-brother, the prince of wales, but alas that never did matter. so much love and embroiled passion was to fuel richard’s desire to make a better man of himself. as a child he believed such talk, and often found himself riddled with jealous to his half-siblings who he saw only time to time. yet such boldness soon vanished with age, a tiresome effect carrying on his heavy lids as he walked through life and it’s varying issues to become dulled by the effect of ambition and the pride of his house. still a bastard at sixteen richard found happiness within ale and wine, and then in the flesh that lay beneath heavy skirts. he followed women in a bid to find himself, though such things lead to richard’s siring of a bastard of his own. his personality and lack of love has shadowed by this news, such darkness has engulfed his very person, followed by a lack of ambition and a desperate need to find something to hold onto. ii. as time passed, richard took his bastard for his own soft hands - he gave him his name, he kissed his brow and with one sweep offered himself with marriage and long-lasting love to his childhood friend, elizabeth beauchamp. with land, an estate and a title of his own, richard grew into a fully formed adult with a loving nature that is often overlooked for the ambitious and melodramatic. despite it all, he refuses to change - and found patience in growing his own dynasty with his newfound family. but, called to portugal by demand of his father the lord-king, richard regrets answering to his call. he resigns himself to the idea of acting noble, and would rather keep himself to himself - but he knows now, that his actions ripple onto the ones he loves.. and now, he must chase his legitimisation so there is choice of futures for his child, his future child and mostly for his wife, who he still seems to stare at with honeyed eyes.  face claim — timothee chalamet height  — 5′10″ recognisable features — dark hair that is a stark contrast compared to his pale skin, his agile legs and the lute he plays behind closed doors.

HEADCANNONS

EARL OF RICHMOND  —  the earldom of richmond is a vast and prestigious title to behold! that, richard does not overlook. despite his tired eyes and lazy soul, richard knows very well that his estate was offered as a gift for marrying someone who was beloved by the english court. at first he found anxiety in place of pride but as time moved on richard allowed himself to take to the role as a duck would water. he is a good man to take care of his people, and makes sure that his servants are paid well in turn that they offer him both loyalty and security. as earl of richmond, he commissioned a portrait of elizabeth which hangs with pride in the entrance hall; when they return, he hopes to have one done of edmund who is beloved amongst the people of his home. in truth, he would’ve rather have taken to staying amongst english soil than take flight to portugal’s coast - but he made the voyage to both reaffirm his loyalty to his father and for his wife’s wishes. 

FAMILY  —  for most of his life richard has struggled as a bastard of a king who then married his mother. it was an oddity, to watch his older brother become legitimised - then to later welcome a baby sister into his life, who was both fully-blooded his own sibling but also wore the pride of princess. lines are drawn between the bastards and the legitimate children, that is for sure. for his preference in siblings surely lies within the arms of his fitzroy families; this also leaves him open to the taking of the members of the neville family, who he feels more aligned with. and though his trust in his father still wanes, he finds companionship in his half-siblings too. it is strange, that is for sure, but richard has blossomed within the family since marrying the lady beauchamp, and with time, he will become even more at peace with who he is. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

friends, “friends”, men he can play cards with, a bad influence who may drag him under hedonistic skills that he once was fluent with, girls he used to chase, a governess for his son, etc etc 

INFLUENCES.

sirius black (harry potter) charlie pace (lost) ambrose spellman (chilling adventures of sabrina) stan rizzo (mad men) theodore laurence (little women, ho ho ho) tyrion lannister (game of thrones) robin hood (english folklore) jason mendoza (the good place) aragorn (lord of the rings) simba (the lion king) dale cooper (twin peaks) troy branes (community) goh peik lin (crazy rich asians) jon snow (game of thrones) samwell tarly (lord of the rings) joey tribbiani/phoebe buffay (friends) romeo montague (shakespeare) anakin skywalker (star wars) sisyphus (greek mythology) heracles (greek mythology) david (bible) ashoka (indian history) john lennon (english history) beast (beauty & the beast) dante alighieri (the divine comedy) brian jones (english history)

[sweetfirebird]

Will there be more books about Taji? Or in the same world, I mean, this may sound weird to you but I would love to know Larin's story with Elii?

I would like to do more books. Specifically, if I could get away with it, Nadir’s and then one for Lin. (But anything outside of m/m does not sell as well, a gross, sad fact. At least for me.) There is also the time factor. Taji took 2+years to write... though now that the world is established, a sequel would hopefully not be such a struggle. 

I sort of imagine Elii being ‘helped’ through the withdrawal by some obliging friend. And I like to the think the friend cares for him a lot, as Shavians don’t call it love, because Elii was the dreamy, devoted sort who picked the wrong one to be devoted to, but had a few people who thought a lot of him. He is very admired, which is pretty clear. And then, once the worst of the withdrawal is over and it’s about his grief and also his shame (and he will feel shame, Larin made sure of that), maybe he should consider that friend again. He deserves a happy ending. 

As for Larin... people like villains. I have no objection to people fanning or stanning villains. It happens all the time. Romance novels also have a history of having a ‘bad’ character get a romance in a sequel. (I personally think the difference between bad and ‘bad’ needs to be clearer, though. For example, Clematis is thought of as bad for most of the beings books and then you meet him and the image wobbles, and then you get in his head and he is a woobie who did bad things, but not bad. You know?) And I did want it to be clear that Larin did not start out ‘evil’. He reacted and made decisions based on his circumstances. They were just... awful decisions. He knew Elii was in love with him (in a Shavian way) and he used that to make himself feel better. That is... absolutely a dick move. But he might have come back from it. Until, uh, the scene. That one scene. You know the one. Culturally, in the story, it was a horrendous thing to do. It was to Shavians, and it absolutely was to Taji as well. 

ANYWAY (I babbled. Sorry.) I have no interest in writing about Larin. If people want to fanfic it, they can (I won’t read it, though. Fanfiction should exist but authors probably should steer clear of other people’s for various reasons). It could even be done really well, because the tragedy is that if Larin had let himself, he might have been happy that way, and been a better person. The little nerdy kid who wanted to travel through space that he clearly was as a child, but as an adult who could trust and who was loved. But he destroyed it. 

But yeah, I’m not writing that. I got enough sadness in real life and I am focused on fluff and happy endings at the moment. :)

[thebulletinhamilton-quotes]

13 for Washington? Pls an thnxs if ya do!

13 - Sexual Orientation? And, regardless of own orientation, thoughts on sexual orientation in general?

ACTUAL George Washington: Aesexual, my personal opinion. I truly believe George Washington was neither heterosexual nor homosexual. Like, if you notice his attitude toward how he let Debra Sampson keep her pension for serving, allowing the first case of homosexuality to be lenient than it typicall was and encouraging other aides to be close, I think G Wash was probably the most tolerate (behind close doors) to homosexuality. (Dude hired Baron Von Steuben who got ousted due to a sex scandal in Prussia court. C’mon) Now, I will clarify: I do not stan nor glorify any founding father, etc. G Wash had slaves (knew it was wrong), could have been more forceful (he could have stopped the political parties, he had the chance) and more.. but yeah. My personal opinion is that G Wash was aesexual due to the document actions he took and more.

Musical George Washington: Lin portrayal of Washington was meant to be heterosexual (heteronormativity is a bitch aint it) and that’s the vibe I get from the show. HOWEVER, since musical Washington is primarily based after the real Washington, I would say aesexual. G Wash gets along with Hamilton due to the ability that they kinda share a brain. Washington was the father figure a lot of founding fathers needed. (A lot of them had MAJOR daddy issues.)

Modern au Washington: aesexual. Again, looking at how he acted in real life, he surrounds himself with friends and people he gets along with (primarily). I do ship him with Martha because they loved each other very much. He wrote her letters whenever he could. BUT if someone pairs G Wash up with someone of the same sex, I’ll read that fic. As long as its not pedophilia and incest, I’ll give it a shout out. (Same for ones taking place in the musical and such).

I get so annoyed when people say things like: you can only like the opposite gender. That’s it. Like no, you do you. If you like people with long hair, go for it. If you are attracted to both genders, hell yes. If you are attracted to no one and only want to reproduce (and that’s it), that’s fine! At the end of the day, you cannot control who you are attracted to. And if you try, you’ll end up hurting yourself.

So if you like he/his, she/her, they/them, etc. go for it. And anyone who says your sexual orientation isn’t valid, then know that I think it is and I support you. (No pedophilia and incest)

Life is too short. And people with different sexual orientation deserve to be seen, heard and loved. For too long, they have had to hide, be killed, tortured and get erased from history.

People of different sexual orientation deserve to be seen.

Thank you anon for the ask!

[ourimpavidheroine]

So I take it you read Ruins of the Empire's leak? Thoughts?

I never know why I get so many asks about Kuvira. That’s not me trying to be shady, either! She’s never more than a mention in my fanfic and I am clearly not a stan, so I don’t understand why my opinion about her is at all noteworthy. (Truly, I am not trying to be rude in saying that; I am genuinely autistically puzzled.)

Spoilers ahead.

That being said…I did read it and I thought it was wretched, if I am being honest. I may not be interested in a Kuvira redemption story but there are so many fans who are and they did not deserve what they got. They deserved so much more than this.

The writing was execrable. I mean, there is just no other way to say it. 

The retconning alone! DiMartino walked Kuvira so far backwards he may as well have just redone all of Book 4. From bringing in two entirely new characters who were somehow more evil than her to the idea that Kuvira was actually adopted and raised by the Beifongs in their house…it basically just took every aspect involving the Zaofu Beifongs and Kuvira in Book 3 and 4 and took it apart.

If you have to retcon an entire season in order to redeem a character then newsflash! Either that character shouldn’t be redeemed OR you need to learn how to write in the first place.

I was disappointed as well as disgusted with the retconned canon that Kuvira was adopted. Not just because it takes Su from a mentor to a mother (which are not even remotely close to the same thing) but because it took the character of Opal and attributed malice to her. Not to mention you are forced to look at Opal’s behavior in Book Four towards Kuvira as the unjustified ranting of a jealous sibling as opposed to the justified anger and fear of someone who sees someone they know and care about as doing wrong. Why you gotta do Opal that way? I mean, that changes her entire personality!

But fuck me, I was squicked out by the whole incest thing, which was most certainly never addressed. If Kuvira was adopted and raised by the Beifongs, then her and Junior running off is fucking creepy, okay? Never mind that they aren’t blood related; it’s like Marcia and Greg fucking on The Brady Bunch. It’s not right; it’s not socially acceptable at the very least, if not illegal. And here’s the thing: if that was the case, would Su Beifong then not have the right to be just a little upset that it happened? Wouldn’t the rest of the siblings be disturbed by that? (I won’t ask if Baatar Senior would have cared because apparently all the man does is build things and donate sperm.) Wouldn’t Bolin be iffy about it? Or any of her very devoted followers? You’re telling me Toph wouldn’t have had some choice things to say, never mind Lin? The Great Uniter Is Fucking - AND MARRYING - Her Brother. Um….? Eew? You’re telling me no one in the world has anything to say about this at any time in the past, present or future? Or did that just not occur to DiMartino? Because he sure as fuck didn’t address it. (If you enjoy incest ships then more power to you, but I think we can all agree that all the weird jokes about Eska and Desna shows that incest is not canonically acceptable in this universe.) If you are going to have it that something that is considered culturally/legally unacceptable to your readers/viewers is culturally/legally acceptable in your created universe (or vice versa) then you have let us in on that, my dude. You don’t just leave your ass out in the wind by not addressing it somehow. Writing 101. 

Meanwhile, there’s Opal assuring Kuvira not to worry, their brother will come around eventually and be fine with the attempted murder thing and fuck her once again! 

But holy crap, the cherry on this shit sundae was the way that everybody in her life does a complete turnaround and welcomes her back with open arms just because she “saves the day”. 

She doesn’t fucking save the day. Baatar Junior saves the day by figuring out how to reverse the brainwashing machine. And yes, I know that he’s able to do that sight unseen thanks to on her excellent memory. (That’s actually the only interesting new character trait we get for her during this entire arc.) Nevertheless, it’s his brains and his ability to take the unfinished pieces of something and make the connections work that does the trick, much the same as he did with the spirit energy weapon. It is without any doubt that he’s the one doing the work, which he does to the very best of his ability despite his feelings about this woman that tried to wholesale murder him and then tried to excuse it as too much pressure. (Which tells us a lot about Junior but not much about Kuvira, eh?)

So what does Kuvira have to do with saving the day? With fixing the entire brainwashing situation? Well, she goes into the camp alone, breaking her word and the law to rescue Mako, Bolin and Wu and subdue the brand spanking new Mighty Kuvira Retcon Evil Baddies on the way.

To be perfectly blunt? Big fucking deal. 

Kuvira did nothing there except jump the gun. We know there was a plan in place to rescue everyone that was brainwashed (not just the people they knew) and take the Mighty Kuvira Retcon Evil Baddies into custody. Kuvira was doing Kuvira; there was nothing new or impressive or changed about her behavior. Her taking shit into her own hands and not giving a fuck about anyone else is what she DOES. (Usually with an extra serving of MURDER.)

And it isn’t like she was the only one who could have handled the situation with a decent plan in place. She’s not the Chosen One, here. Korra? Su? Opal and the Twins? Asami? Hello? Toph alone could have taken the two of them down in her gotdamned sleep. The very idea that Kuvira deserves instant acceptance and forgiveness for that - especially as she would have full out murdered Höss Guan if Su hadn’t stepped in, which shows she hasn’t changed a damn bit - is just stupid, quite frankly. The camps, the conscripted soldiers, the dictatorship, the invasion of Zaofu, the imprisoning of her (retconned) family in a fucking cage, the destruction of half of Republic City, the attempted murder of her Incest Fiance do not get forgiven because she breaks the law and her word once again to go and do what she does best: kill to get her way.

I’m not buying it. Nor am I buying that she finally gets the family name for publicly copping to all the illegal, immoral, terrifying and unarguable horrors she pulled as the Great Uniter, never mind as a retconned member of the Beifong family. There is no question she did that shit. She herself admits it happens during the first trial! All she does during the second trial is say she’s wrong and takes on the blame. Which…okay. Let’s say she’s sincere instead of being canonically manipulative the way she always was. (And she is extremely manipulative in both show and comic canon.) So…everyone just buys it wholesale and wholeheartedly forgives her right that very second in the courtroom and everything? The people she betrayed, tried to kill, left orphaned? Say what now? This literal overnight redemption of hers wasn’t set up, it wasn’t earned, and her sudden (and frankly suspicious) turnaround and everyone instantaneously and happily accepting it was so abrupt that I sat there blinking, wondering what had just fucking happened. The script did not come even close to justifying any of it. 

It’s like fanfic written by a 12 year old. Actually, that’s not fair. I was writing better fanfic when I was 12, and that was bad self-insert marriage to Duran Duran members fic. It was still better than this.

I am, not going to lie, embarrassed for DiMartino. I truly am. It was that bad. That guy should take a class or something for pacing alone. Wrapping up a nearly 200 page plotline in 3 pages where everyone does a complete turnaround with big cheesy smiles is Not What’s Done. That’s Writing 101 as well and he failed, big time.

Needless to say, I will be ignoring point blank everything in this entire series except for 1)Su barging in on Korra and Asami right as they are about to get it on (LOL, I would totally write that as happening, that’s a very Su thing to do) and 2)Baatar Junior’s pouty face and him slamming his door in Kuvira’s face, which was great. 10/10 loved. Best part of the entire trilogy. I am 1000% sure that he has made that same face at Ikki and would have slammed the door but all they had at the time were rugs over holes in the rock. But he MEANT the door slam. He MEANT it.

[pangzi]

Okay how about this I’m always lookin for cpop groups to stan so why don’t you tell me about ur faves

you have no idea what you have unleashed!! but i will gladly take the offer and rant about my ult group TANGRAM i was gonna do ONER too but this post got too long and tangram was more important i tried to introduce the members but the descriptions just became random thoughts and tiny rants lmao sorry i love them a lot, i also added all songs i think and their reality shows pls love them they deserve it :( 

members: (basic member info here)

Qiu Zhixie (Frankie), oldest of the group, absolute vocal king and isn’t shy about it, parent of the group, loves his 5 children but is also done with them, language king!! his english is really good, says he also speaks spanish and japanese but there isn’t as much proof lmao, was in codename contra with yu bin, basically the perfect husband everyone wants to marry him, has tumblr???? says he doesn’t use it but we don’t believe him!! (i literally have a video of him telling me ‘tuMBLR? we doN’t uSe THat HEre!!’), songwriter!!!!!!!!!!!!!, old man and knows it but the members still wont let him forget, they bully him a lot bc they love him so much, has this one burberry shirt he wears all the time?? we lowkey want to burn it??

Lin Chaoze (Richard bc the chinese 理查德 li cha de sounds like his name), TINY GOD!!, lies about his height just like ji li but we still love him, looks tiny but is actually pretty tall wtf, dance KING!!, God of Dance Zhang Yixing even praised him!!, on ip he constantly helped people, is the reason why both tangram;s and all the teams he was ever on in ip’s choreos were that good and in sync, leader and parent of the group, also absolutely done with his children but would die for them, maotong is his favourite child and spoils him a lot, very insecure about his singing but has a beautiful voice, looks like a complete baby but on stage he… fuck god he’s so sexy on stage!, that’s why we sad off stage = chaoze, on stage = richard, really strict teacher, literally sees every little mistake it’s wild, most popular member!, really sassy and dramatic we love that!

Bei Honglin (Air) yes his english name is Air, yes he is still my ult i know he’s that powerful, aNOTHER VOCAL KING!! has a high singing voice but his speaking voice is really low?? seksi, completely underappreciated i swear to god he has like 5 fans???, the sWEETEST boy alive, cares so much about his fans he bought us ice cream in chengdu bc it was so hot sOBS, also went to make cheesecake to give it to people on his birthday event, and he and his mom bought my friend coffee when she went to see him on the airport at 5am and she was the only one there it was wild, together with zhixie he forms ΒΔΒΞ and they make food unboxing videos and theyre so funny jgklgjd, absolute sWEETEST MOST POWERFUL smile, i s2g i stanned chaoze without a doubt until bhl smiled at me ONCE and boom he was my ult wtf??, also nose crafted by the gods!! this man is perfect i swear, also i call him Jesus Oppa for reasons he would kill me if i posted said reasons, he also reads all his dms, comments and mentions on weibo and instagram!!,OH also auditioned for rap of china twice, first time he got told he doesn’t ‘look’ like a rapper?? is it bc he looks too pretty? bc he looks like an entire boyfriend??, n e way watch this stage, OH HE ALSO WRITES LYRICS FOR THEIR SONGS!!!!, super super super grateful for everything bc he knows he’s the least popular (he thought nobody was going to show up to his birthday event), crybaby (chaoze is too tbh), highkey in love with chaoze literally looks at him with heart eyes all the time, also loves his mom so much it’s so cute, i can talk about him for years so i’ll stop here pls love honglin

Li Ruotian (Kai), d e m o n, everyone’s bias wrecker, i heard he didn’t prepare anything when he auditioned so he just read a poem and got into the company???, pretty boy reading a poem exactly what banana ent needed!, he’s really really dumb and so funny wtf, his soft rap in Stay with you is the reason i am alive, lots of people end up stanning tgm just bc of this man’s face??, therefore he deserves the title visual of the group, really annoying but everyone loves him anyway, also actor!!, he’s gonna be on a period drama i think??, extra dangerous bc he has d-… dimples

Jiang Jingzuo (S???? according to this is banana lmao, we’ve decided it stands for sexy), another dance god!, also nice voice, we were all surprised he got some of ldh’s lines but god he deserves them, sweetest cheekies uwu baby, tries to looks like a cool dude but is baby, is done with everyone but also joins in their antics???, promised a love shot dance cover but i still haven’t seen it jingzuo where is it???????, also martial arts, don’t piss him off!!, made the entire room dirty during his ip intro video with his broom it was hilarious, niCE ARMS, also have i mentioned his cheeks????????, really really hot, will come for you when you least expect it 

Gao Maotong, god where do i start with this one??, baby of the group, an absolute meSS!!, super smart got like crazy high grades on his gaokao even tho he didn’t go to school since ip but just locked himself up at home to study for three months?? (that’s why a lot of recent stages are without him), guess that’s why his head is so big…, got into a super good university, so like he’s crazy smart but says he leaves his brain at home when he goes to work, so i can say he only has 1 braincell, he once licked a rock and took a frying pan everywhere???, dumbest funniest boy alive everyone loves him a lot, lies about his height too bc he’s so freaking tall??, aka his name suits him tall maotong, wants to stop growing poor baby give some of your toll to chaoze he needs it, gamer nerd, god there’s this one part where qzx bit him bc he wouldn’t stop gaming to plan their germany trip with him even though qzx was going back to taiwan soon gfkdljdf, OH uh yes he’s a rapper! and a really good dancer!!, basically every fan has adopted him, although there’s one person in his gc who says she’s his daughter lmaooo, really cute teethsies he’s really insecure about :(

Predebut they were Trainee18, there were also You Zhangjing and Lin Yanjun, they debuted with nine percent and are solo now, pls check them out bhl and qzx wrote this song for yzj and it’s amazing. Lu Dinghao left the group, i cannot explain why without ranting for 7 years + he doesn’t deserve that attention.

Songs:

Rock The Show (predebut with Trainee18), absolute BOP (lyrics, MV)

Radiant - single, debut song, basically a love song for the fans, cried when i first heard it, always makes my heart beat faster (lyrics - performance - home made MV lmao)

Focus - single, big fat bop, horrible super flashy mv (lyrics - MV - performance - dance practice (my fave tgm video))

Stay with You - single, absolutely gorgeous, might be their best song, lots of drama with the mv it was super sad i won’t add the mv, this song alwyas makes me happy tho(lyrics - performance)

Deja You - single, written for their company’s concert, the beginning is hilarious but it’s a good song (lyrics - performance)

The Painting from a Dream- super soft weird song, great to fall asleep to?? (lyrics)

Rush Forward - OST, really happy song?, didnt like it at first but now i do (lyrics)

Lyrics of love - for a charity event (lyrics - mv)

The Me Then, The Me Now - with you zhangjing, lin yanjun and my wife qiang dongyue, for their company concert (lyrics)

Lin Chaoze - Break it (lyrics - mv - performance)

Bei Honglin - Chasing Dreams OST (lyrics - mv)

Reality Shows:

Korea Trip - trip to korea after elimination IP (no chaoze)(PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

Sawadikap Banana - predebut Tangram on vacation in thailand (PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

Guten Guten Banana - TANGRAM trip to Hamburg for an event + You Zhangjing and Lin Yanjun for several episodes(PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

This is Banana - preparation for the company concert so with other banana artists(PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

Other subbed videos: TangramSUBS, BananaTeamSubs 1 / 2, 

[lovelytonys]

talk to me about mary poppins returns i just saw it the other day and im super curious about ur thoughts

ok my good sir/lady/whomever, you are opening some floodgates here bc most of my thoughts are about mr michael banks and I have a LOT of said thoughts so first, to get the other stuff out of the way:

-the kids were precious & I love them

-as a Basic Musical Theatre Stan, I thrived as I watched Lin Manuel Miranda in a Disney movie musical

-Emily Blunt,,,please,,,,punch me in the face I love you

-this fun-loving and chaotic casual demigod version of Ms. Poppins is way more accurate to P. L. Travers’ vision than the prim & proper simple witch seen in the original movie

-the scene inside the bowl was visually SUBERP

-I like how all the songs parallel a song from the original

-I cried 4 times 

okay now,,,, oh god this is going to be so long THE GOOD MR MICHAEL BANKS HAD THE CHARACTER ARC OF A LIFETIME please let me talk about this I’m on the verge of a breakdowN 

Since Michael’s arc was kind of like George Banks’ arc from the original but, like, supercharged, they targeted me personally as someone who weirdly feels an emotional connection to the George Banks arc (but not because it has any personal value to me, rather because I have seen Saving Mr. Banks 50 million times & it’s one of my favorite movies lol). This was a BEAUTIFUL and nuanced take on the “oh gosh am I becoming my father??” trope (that, as a tony stark stan, I am always a sucker for). Michael’s arc was a never-stated but constant comparison to George- sometimes through juxtaposition, and sometimes through parallelism. At the beginning, when we see Michael as a loving dad who doesn’t get angry over the chaos of the burst pipe, it’s like “oh, he’s nothing his dad was!” But who we’re really seeing is a quietly but deeply hurting man whose fundamental kindness keeps him from becoming cold. It’s only when the terrible stress of losing his house falls upon him that he begins to act like his father. He scolds his children with uncharacteristic severity and says that he’ll deal with them how he likes because he’s their father, and that just SCREAMS George Banks, and the audience is like “oh man, he’s really become his father, huh?” That parallel is super clear, but Michael never truly became his father, because Michael never lost his heart & soul. Beneath his coldness was always this brokenness and desperation. While George’s cold scolding was “I’m telling you to behave because I want my children to be quiet and orderly”, Michael’s scolding was “I’m telling you to behave because I’m being crushed under the stress of my life and don’t know how to deal with it.” The most telling scene was when Michael had a breakdown and cried in front of his children- that was the confirmation that no, at his core, Michael could never become his father. It is only further proven when he allows himself to move on & realize the important things with help from his kids, whose ideas and words he respected & took to heart. In the end, George’s story was about redemption, but Michael’s story was about reclamation- reclamation of the man he was before the selfish world shattered his fragile self. And I think that’s beautiful.

Anyway. I’m sorry about this. But I had to get it out and in my defense, my friend, you decided to knock on my door and invite this rant and if anyone thought it wouldn’t be two million words long then you’re not familiar with me and my long winded tendencies have a good day

[fierce-little-miana]

Hello^^ Since I am now totally consumed by Marco Polo thanks to you, I wanted to ask you what you think of the female characters in the series and who is your favourite? Only if you don't mind of course :)

I absolutely do not mind at all. It is always a pleasure to talk about Marco Polo and especially to talk about the female character that I love with a great passion. I find them to be generally interesting and well written. 

So, since I have a real weekend in really long time, I am going to explain what I think of every significant female character in Marco Polo! Buckle Up!

Empress Chabi:

Chabi is my favorite female character in the show. Actually, she is my favorite character in Marco Polo. Frankly Chabi is one of my general favorite characters even outside of Marco Polo. She is the political consort done right. 

Often in TV-shows or period dramas when they say political savvy woman they mean woman who uses her sexuality to manipulate men. It’s true that women did reach powerful position by using their sexuality but not only and writers of period drama don’t seem to have the slightest idea on how to write a political savvy woman if there is no sex involved. 

That’s not the case with Chabi. Yes she has a sex life and the she manages Kublai’s harem but her power doesn’t come for her sexuality. Her political strength relies on the complete trust that exists between her and her husband (which seems to be an historical truth by the way). She is his most trusted advisor. She is also the one in charge of managing and assuring his dynasty. She also takes care of the public depiction of the dynasty and she does it very well. She is deeply ambitious for her family, and an excellent judge of character that makes sure that people who have talent are put in positions where they can express them (for the empire), and generally brillant.

However that doesn’t make Chabi a good person. She is ruthless and doesn’t hesitate to hurt and manipulate the people around her for the sake of her family, her dynasty and the empire. In short she is a mongol queen, an actual political player who is here to win. I love her. Also the actress that portrays her, Joan Chen (love her too), was 53 during the first season and there are no reason to believe that Chabi was supposed to be much younger. Having one of the main female character be a woman in her fifties presented as extremely important, clever, and beautiful isn’t that usual (Lena Headey and Indira Varma that are I think the two oldest actresses that are supposed to interpret beautiful/desirable women in GoT are 45 this year, Katheryn Winnick from Vikings is 41) so double Yeah for Chabi!   

Khutulun:

Khutulun is the kind of historical character that are too big for any artistical representation of them. I mean a wrestling princess that refused to marry any man that can’t defeat her in a wrestling match and stayed undefeated (even if she did marry in the end). The favorite child of her father and one of his generals… Khutulun is an exception even in Mongol History. She straight up escaped from a a legend.

I also really like her character in Marco Polo. She has bravado but it never makes her disagreeable. She is just proud of herself because well she is a great warrior and she should be proud of herself. She is also generally a great character to be around that cares about her loved ones and is distraught by having to do dishonorable things in order to win.

Her moral conflict is really interesting and her relationship with Byamba allows her to show fragility and doubt without undermining her warrior status. I also really like the low key conflict she has with her brother which is not her fault and that she doesn’t want but that she has to live with. Khutulun in Marco Polo isn’t a political player like Chabi is but she has to navigate this political context and she tries to do it while not disappointing her father, not losing her brother and her lover but more importantly not losing herself.  

Kokachin/Nergui:    

Kokachin is a very nicely done tragic character. It is someone divided between the lie she said to save her life and what she wants from her life. She knows she can’t get it and she does her best to survive but it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want it. This fondamental dichotomy is slowly destroying her. Even more when she ends up completely in Chabi’s claws.

Her sanity slowly slips away. But she tries, she tries so hard to do what is expected of her to become someone worthy of who she is pretending to be. She is so brave. She is clever and political too. But she fails. Of course she fails because that is the point of a tragedy but she sure makes an impact on the audience. Everyone wanted Kokachin to succeed, to become the next Chabi. Maybe a better kinder Chabi. Everyone knew she was going to fail. It didn’t mean that we weren’t completely wrecked by her ending.

Mei Lin:

Okay before starting on Mei Lin I wanted to say that her back story makes no logical sens. There are no scenario that explains how a child so poor she ends up in prostitution (and not the ‘classy’ kind of prostitution), learns to fight like an art martial master and read like it is expected of imperial concubines in China, and then becomes one of the high ranking concubines of the Emperor. Don’t get me wrong I see scenarios where three of this points could work together (Ching Shih) but never the four at the same time. Especially in a society as codified and rigid as Song China.

That being said Mei Lin is still a good character. Even if there are plot holes in her backstory it actually still does the job of explaining her character, and her brother’s character, pretty well. She doesn’t care about the big picture, after all the big picture never cared about her, and she is out there for herself. And for her daughter. I can see how someone who has been used and abused would be particularly protective of their child and also could love them unconditionally, since the child isn’t trying to use them. Mei Lin keeps her goal in mind for both seasons of the show and works toward it with the little margin she is granted.

She is angry, maybe a bit too impulsive, unimpressed by power structure and symbolic representation of power (because she knows what they are for) and that makes an extremely compelling character.  

The Dowager Empress of the Song Empire:

It’s probably going to sound weird but I really like her. I think the Dowager Empress of the Song Empire was a really interesting character to have on the show. Once again we follow a woman in her fifties wielding power. She is chancellor Sidao main political opponent. While he wants to go for broke and try to shake the mongol yoke once and for all she is trying for conciliation. 

She does everything in her power to push her political agenda and her main weapon his honor and decency. In a way she is a model of Dowager Empress, a person without moral fault doing her best for the survival of the dynasty and her people. And she tries to do that by upholding moral virtue. No one can look at this woman telling chancellor Sidao «It is a powerful man who injures little children» and not stanning her forever. I wish her end was closer to her historical end but I guess I can’t have everything.

Also she was Chabi’s greatest rival for killer head-dresses/headpieces. I love overly complicated headpieces.

Jing Fei:

Jing Fei is a less important character than the ones above but I also have a soft spot for her. Here we have Mei Lin best friend. I mean how many show would have given a best friend to the bad ass girl who uses her sexuality to advance her goal? It’s even better because Jing Fei and Mei Lin were in the same harem but no cat fight occurred. They sticked together. 

Jing Fei is a clever and ingenious woman who always privileges her relationship with other women. She puts herself in danger for Mei Lin and the Dowager Empress. A woman always choosing to stay by another woman’s side? Starz and Emma Frost are chocked!  

Shabkana:

Probably my favorite character introduce in season 2, Shabkana is Kaidu’s mother and Khutulun’s grandmother. She is our link to the violence that took place during the Toluid revolution. She makes the ideological conflict between Kaidu and Kublai personal and intimate. Her monologue on how she tried to save her sister by swearing fealty to the Tolui line, laying her honor and loyalty down, just for her sister to die in horrible pain while believing Shabkana had betrayed her is incredible.  

She wants the Ogedei line to be back in power. She is angry and out for blood. But she is also a shrouded politician and a ruthless manipulator. She is our only glimpse at the type of power widows could wield in the Mongol Empire and she is such a great antagonist. Really I love her.

Bonus point Lotus:

Lotus is the only female character that didn’t left an impact on me in Marco Polo so I guess she is my least favorite character. I don’t have a lot to say about her I don’t remember her very well (which is always a bad sign). But I remember being delighted to see Michelle Yeoh plays an unstoppable fighter that no-one wanted to face in duel. 

Super Bonus point: You will notice that 4 out the 8 main female characters of Marco Polo are older than 50. Hurray!